Seven Fun Takes

— 1 —

Got plans to be in or around Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, February 23?

Well then, I’ll see YOU at the Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference, where there will be great speakers (Fr. Leo Patalinghug! Suzanne Fowler! Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist!) and some crazy farm girl MC. (Yes, me.)

The cost is $30 ($15 for students and free for religious sisters) and, from my own past experience attending, it will be a day of awesomesauce.

There’s a little “show floor” with vendors and information from around the diocese, confession, and lunch.

It is a chance to recharge yourself right at the beginning of Lent, to pause and take a breath. There will be amazingness there, of that I am sure. I’ve been to conferences in bigger cities and this little “Cowtown” (as we used to disparagingly refer to it back in my college days) holds its own with class and style.

See you there?

— 2 —

Last weekend, I had the honor and pleasure of attending a Women’s Afternoon of Renewal. We had about double the attendance we initially planned for and everyone walked away very “wow.”

The theme was springing into Lent, focusing on physical, mental, and spiritual. The first speaker did an amazing job convincing all of us that we didn’t need to be spending a lot of money on chemicals to clean our houses. Her witness was powerful and heartfelt. The second speaker was a physical therapist who gave us very simple exercises/stretches to do to take care of our core, because our bodily health does tie into our spiritual health.

The last speaker was some lady talking about “Keeping Lent Real.”

Caption away in the combox.

— 3 —

For Christmas, I got a new camera.

I’ve been catching good sunrises.

And sunsets.

And kids.

— 4 —

In 2012, I had a banner reading year. It was grand.

And, because lists complete me in many ways, I couldn’t resist making a list of my top 10 fiction and my top 11 nonfiction* reads from 2012 as part of my Book Notes writing at CatholicMom.com.

What would make your top reading of 2012 list?

(*nonfiction link goes live at noon Eastern.)

— 5 —

Perhaps you find yourself needing something to pass the time. Maybe the Saint’s Name Generator just isn’t cutting it for you.

Allow me to introduce you to my new favorite website:

Feeling frustrated with your children? Fed up with the smarty pants commenter on Facebook? Unable to respond properly to the jerk at work?

Look no farther.

Here’s but a small sampling of the treasure that awaits you:

Harken, O ye whose name is but dung, for you will have more mother-in-laws than King Solomon!

Woe unto thee, thou child of Jezebel, for you will be swallowed by a whale with excessively bad breath!

May you be kicked by an incontinent camel, O thou bull of Bashan!

And now I have to stop. My laughing might wake the children and is coming close to interrupting the Very Important Show we are watching…

Found via Jennifer E. on Google+.

— 6 —

In the event that the last one isn’t quite appropriate for your needs, you can thank Fr. Roderick’s Facebook friends for this gem: the Shakespeare Insulter.

Behold:

I find the ass in compound with the major part of your syllables. (Taken from: Coriolanus)

You scullion! You rampallian! You fustilarian! I’ll tickle your catastrophe! (Taken from: Henry IV, part 2)

Thou fusty rump-fed miscreant!

You can thank me later.

— 7 —

Here’s something to feed you spiritually (because you’ll need it after binging on those last two takes, I assure you): the novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots.

A friend of mine is a terrific prayer warrior, and she is my novena partner. We began praying this the other day, and it’s a lot of work.

It’s also beautiful.

In this devotion, I hand Mary the tangled web of whatever in my life. I think I know how it will come out, but I’ve learned, over the years, that the real miracle of prayer happens within me.

My intentions with this novena are big. In fact, as I sit here, they seem even bigger.

But it’s no problem for Mama. She has all the time in the world. There’s no hurry. She’ll untangle things one snarl at a time. The finished product will look so different than what I expect that I probably won’t even think to give her the credit.

That’s Mama for you. Always at work in the background. Never needing credit for herself. Patiently waiting for me to come around again so she can help me some more.

Have a great weekend, and don’t forget to visit Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!